


Lighthouses

by Datawolf39



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Affection, Comfort, Cuddles, Emotions, Hurt/Comfort, I do and always will call him Akira, Lullabies, None of that other name here, Soft boys being soft, everybody cares about Akira, he's the only one surprised by this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23876266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Datawolf39/pseuds/Datawolf39
Summary: Akira is stoic and mature, but everything has a price.
Relationships: Kurusu Akira & Phantom Thieves of Hearts, Kurusu Akira & Sakura Sojiro
Comments: 12
Kudos: 269
Collections: Quality Persona Fics





	Lighthouses

**Author's Note:**

> Writer's block + social isolation+ playing P5R for an alarming amount of time = this fic.

When he sees it, Morgana panics.

He had just managed to doze off, curled up on the edge of the bed, his favorite spot was unavailable since Akira was resting on his side, and that's when he hears a sound. He lifts his head to find Akira curled into a ball crying.

“Hey! What’s wrong?!” he asks, quickly moving across the bed to the boy’s face, only to find that he is asleep.

Not knowing what else to do, he wipes the tears away with a gentle swipe of his paw, and purrs loudly.

Akira snakes out an arm, and pulls Morgana snugly against his chest.

Morgana keeps purring, relieved that the crying has stopped.

The next morning, Akira doesn’t seem to remember, and Morgana doesn’t bring it up, but he does sleep closer to Akira from then on, to help ward off the tears.

~

When he sees it, Sojiro feels his heart break.

The kid is clearly tired. He’s practically asleep at the booth, pencil held in his lax fingers, and shaking himself awake every few seconds so that he can get his work done.

By the time Sojiro finishes tidying up for the night, the notebook has been pushed aside, and the kid’s head is resting pillowed on his arm.

Sojiro sighs, and begins to walk over with the intent to wake him up, and send him to bed, that's when he notices the tears. They stream down the kid’s face as relentless as a summer storm.

It hurts to see the proof of how badly the kid is hurting despite the mask he shows the world. It hurts more to realize that he had been completely fooled by it.

He wipes the tears away gently so that he doesn’t wake the kid up. Once he is done, and there is no trace of them, he shakes Akira awake. “Get to bed kid,” he says as gruffly as he can manage.

Akira nods, and heads for the stairs. Sojiro packs away his study materials, and when he looks in on the kid, he finds Morgana curled up next to him, purring. With a soft smile, he heads home.

~

When he sees it, Ryuji tells a lie.

It’s late when they finish working out at the gym, competitive spirit had pushed them both a bit too far, but, on the bright side, since Akira had stopped home before coming to the gym, Morgana wasn’t there to ridicule them for it.

“Aww man!” Ryuji exclaims suddenly.

Akira looks at him, “What’s the matter?”

“I forgot I told my mom I would clean up the apartment today. Crap, she’s going to kill me,” he finished with a depressed sigh.

Akira had planned to read the book he had checked out from the school library the other day, but his friend was more important. “I’ll come and help,” he told him.

“Thanks man,” Ryuji said with a smile, and began to lead the way to the station.

“Done,” Ryuji groaned, flopping into a nearby chair.

“I’m glad it’s Saturday,” Akira sighed, from his spot on the floor.

“Thanks again for helping me,” Ryuji said, and when his friend didn’t respond, he looked over, only to find the other boy fast asleep.

Akira is still asleep, an hour later when Ryuji’s mom gets home, and his mom takes one look at Akira, and tells Ryuji to call Akira’s guardian to let them know Akira was staying the night. He figures she made the right call when Akira fails to wake up all the way when they move him to Ryuji’s bed.

Ryuji is quite tired himself, and once he changes into his pajamas, he gets in bed. It feels weird not being able to spread out like he normally does, but Akira does so much for him, that giving up half of his sleeping space isn’t nearly enough to repay him for it. He’s half asleep when he becomes aware of a soft sound coming from behind.

He rolls over, and to his shock finds that Akira is crying in his sleep. He has no idea what to do about it, he’s not the best at dealing with emotions, be they his own or someone else’s, but after a moment he reaches out, intending to wake him up, and Akira grabs his hand.

Ryuji freezes, wondering what the other boy is going to do with it, and is surprised when Akira brings the captured hand to rest just above his waist, his own hand resting atop it.

Ryuji waits a moment, and then tries to pull his hand away, the result is a tightened hold, and a nearly inaudible whimper, and he decides to leave his hand where it was. He scoots a bit closer, in a bid to make the position more comfortable for himself, and somehow finds himself cuddling, with one of his best friends.

When they wake up, still snuggled together, Ryuji apologizes for his bad sleeping habits, and resolves to make sure that all subsequent impromptu sleepovers end the same way, because how can he not offer comfort to a friend like Akira?

~

When she sees, Ann makes a vow

“We could do this another day,” Ann says when she sees him.

“I’m fine,” Akira told her, “I just had a late night talking to a friend.”

“You need to make sure you get enough sleep.”

“Now you sound like Morgana,” he laughs. “So are we going to watch the movie?”

Seeing that he was being particularly stubborn today, she relented, and put on the movie.

By the halfway mark, he was fast asleep on the sofa, and she decided to leave him be. She would get started on dinner now, and then wake him up, and if it wasn’t too late they could finish the movie.

She decides on something simple, baked chicken and rice, it will take a while, but it gives Akira a few hours to rest, which is the point.

When the food was ready, she goes to wake Akira, and stopped just inside the room. He was just as she had left him, but tears were running down his face. He doesn’t seem to be having a nightmare though so she can only guess that this is the price he pays for the cool exterior that he shows the world.

She gently wipes away the tears, and then proceeds to run her fingers through his unruly, but surprisingly silky, hair, as she does that, she vows to show him that he can depend on her, and that he should feel free to express himself.

For now though, she will pretend to be unaware, and make sure he eats dinner before going home.

~

When he sees, Yusuke sings.

“Are you sure?” Akira asked for the second time.

“I would not have offered if I was uncertain, and in any case, I am not heartless enough to wish you to be out in such a storm.” As though to punctuate the statement, a flash lightning lights the sky, and is followed by a needlessly loud boom of thunder.

“These may not fit you well, but they should make decent nightwear, and should be a vast improvement over a soaked uniform.”

Akira nods. “Thanks Yusuke.”

Yusuke refuses to let him sleep on the floor once he is changed for bed, and it is a mark of how tired he is that there is no protest.

Yusuke has always been a light sleeper so when the sound of crying reaches his ears, he instantly becomes alert.

At first he fears that he is still in the atelier and everything had been nothing more than an elaborate dream. When he rolls over and comes face to face with one of the people that had forced him to see the truth and helped him to embrace it, he finds himself relieved. Seconds later, he feels worry for his friend, because crying in one's sleep is certainly a sign of some upset.

He is hesitant to wake his friend however, knowing that Akira didn't get enough sleep as it was.

So he opts to move closer to him, hoping that the closeness might soothe whatever has upset Akira.

Then somewhere deep within him comes a song. He hears the words so clearly that he can't help quietly singing them himself.

“Hush now

You darling child

There's nothing for you to fear

You're never alone

With me nearby I'll soothe all your tears

And if someday I'm out of reach

Which one day I will be

No matter how far we are torn apart

I will always remain in your heart.”

As it had done for him so long ago, the gentle lullaby soothed Akira.

“Thank you mother,” Yusuke said softly.

~

  
Akira knows the price he pays for his mask of stubborn neutrality during the time that he is awake. Waking with his face stained by tears is not a new thing for him. What is new is having friends that care so much for him that not only do they not tease him, like the other children had done at the first and only sleepover he had attended, they go out of their way to help him.

He knows they know, it’s impossible for them not to have seen him crying in his sleep at this point given how frequently it happens, and he has the evidence of their behavior.

It’s the way Morgana snuggles with him, compact body strategically resting where he can’t help being aware of him.

It’s in the way Sojiro wakes him when he falls asleep while studying. After the first instance, there always seems to be a small cup of coco for him to drink, and it never fails to make him smile, which is likely the point.

It’s in the way that Ryuji always stays up late when he sleeps over. Akira, a creature of habit because of Morgana’s prodding always lays down first and though he offers to set up a sleeping space on the floor, Ryuji always offers his bed to him like a good host. He’s always asleep by the time Ryuji turns in for the night, and then as though by magic, he always wakes up cuddled with him, with his friend claiming that being tired made him forget to set up another sleeping space for himself.

It’s in the way that Ann’s fingers seem to constantly play with his hair, she doesn’t just restrict it to when he is asleep, and soon he begins to associate the feeling with comfort, which seemed to be her plan.

It’s in the way that he starts to associate Yusuke with music. While he doesn’t stay over too often, he never really tries to hard to avoid it. He feels, more than hears, the soft melody that Yusuke weaves around him during those nights, and the gently sung words, wrap around him as snugly as any security blanket ever could.

He is not upset with them though for the way they handle it. In fact it is the opposite. He is humbled by the care they give him. He’s not sure what he’s done to earn such steadfast loyalty, but he’s not stupid enough to try to push them away for it. Instead, he resolves to thank them in actions.

For Morgana, Saturday becomes fancy fish night. He watches the feline devour the expensive sushi, and they both know without words what it means.

For Sojiro he cleans. Every Monday night he wipes down all the surfaces, mops the floor, cleans the kitchen, and the bathroom. The only task he leaves for Sojiro is flipping the sign to closed, and they both know without words what it means.

For Ryuji, he plays games. The blond loves them, and once he gets the hang of the retro games, he’s hooked. It doesn’t help that Akira is competitive. They beat each other's scores every time they get together for a gaming session, and they both know without words what it means.

For Ann, he finds rare sweets to share. They are hit and miss, but it’s always fun to watch her try it, and to let her ‘force’ him to as well. They both know without words what it means.

For Yusuke, he visits his dorm, toting along a bowl of curry. The boy is the poster child for the starving artist stereotype, and Akira hates it, so in a way he is grateful he has an excuse to feed him. Along with the meal, he offers time, some days Yusuke sketches him, leaving the two of them in a comfortable silence, and other times he simply listens to what the other boy chooses to talk about, they both know without words what it means.

**Author's Note:**

> I just want to add that this story is based on something that I heard about a long time ago. I can't remember where or when, but I remember finding out that Leonard Nimoy would sometimes just cry for no reason because he spent most of the workday having to hide all his emotions for his character, and I saw a big parallel between that, and Akira just talking everything in stride for the whole dang game. Seriously, Atlus loves to torture Persona MC's don't they? (I'm not much better, but shhhh.) 
> 
> Also let's pretend it ends with Yusuke simply because he's my favorite, I do so love my soft artist boy, and not because no matter how hard I tried I couldn't come up with something for the later members mmkay?
> 
> If you read this, thanks for the extra time, and have an awesome day!


End file.
